After reading several stories here that I have thoroughly enjoyed, it is time to have a crack myself. So here goes the start of my Unemployment Challenge.



I am only using England for my nations, but will use all the available leagues down to Skrill North and South.


Having very little playing experience, but some coaching experience at an amateur level, my managers past experience is that of a Sunday League Footballer. This should make life difficult to find a job, especially with the leagues being semi-pro in nature.

At the start of the 2013/14 season, Stockport County is the only club advertising for a new manager, so I throw my application into the mix and head off on holidays, not expecting to hear back from them.

Much to my surprise I am back from holidays two days later for an interview with Stockport. While I would love to be managing a much higher league, I figure we all have to start somewhere. I sit through the interview, hopefully giving all the answers that the Chairman wants to hear.

I hold off going on holidays again just to see what happens, and low and behold, I am offered a contract. Being the greedy man that I am, I try to squeeze as much as I can out of the club, and then sign on the dotted line.


Taking over a new club can be a daunting task, with many decisions that need to be made, especially at the lower level leagues. Does the club have any backroom staff, if they do are they worth keeping, what is the scouting like and I suppose most importantly, are the players going to meet the aims the board has set me.

Stockport County had been relegated from the Skrill Premier in season 2012/13, and the Chairman expected me to have the club reach the promotion playoffs as a minimum. Honestly, I don’t know if I will be up to the task. The club has given me no transfer budget, and I have about £750 available in the wage budget.

In the end I decide that I will keep the existing backroom staff, as I feel it could be better to keep staff below my standards than to go time without an assistant or coaches. I do immediately approach to scouts to join the club, as we currently don’t have any.



Thankfully this is all sorted before my first match in charge, the friendly against...

• The Club as I found it

I don't usually post on stories (I usually just read and read)

But this one looks interesting, I'll definitely be following. I've tried the unemployment challenge a few times and started with Stockport once.. It didn't work out

But Good Luck to you!

And that second scout will come in handy I'm sure!

James

Good start mate!

Good luck!

Before getting into the preseason, let me show you how I found Stockport County on my first day at work.

Stockport County hasn’t got a lot of silverware in the cabinet, but have had a long history. Stockport was consistently competitive during the 1920’s and 1930’s, winning their first piece of silverware in 1922 winning the English 3rd Division North, and again in 1937. During that same period they finished 2nd and 3rd several times in the league. Stockports most successful trophy was winning the Sky Bet League 2 in 1967.

Stockport reach their pinnacle during the 1990’s where they managed to reach 8th in the Sky Bet Championship in season 1997/98, along with being runner up in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy in 1992 and 1993.

Most recently has seen Stockport relegated from the Skrill Premier in season 2012/13, with the board expecting immediate challenge for promotion. I am hoping that I can be the man to achieve this and more.


I have chosen to keep the existing backroom staff, at least until January, as I feel the disruption of dropping both the Assistant and Coach is likely to hurt the preparation for the new season more than the gains of better staff.

At the risk of irritating the board, I will be regularly requesting more coaching staff, as I would love to get in better staff before replacing the existing coaches. But time will tell if I am successful with this.

I can also confirm now that I have signed Gavin Tait as our new Chief Scout on a full time, one year deal, and Calum Davenport as a scout also on a full time, one year contract.


To try and bring in some extra cash, but more importantly to get as much game time as possible for my squad, I proposed some extra friendlies. I have invited Jong FC Twente, Paris Saint-Germain Reserves and Droylsden for home games, along with a visit to Stockport Sports in addition to the friendlies already organised.


In all honesty I expect a very tough preseason campaign, which I can only hope doesn’t come back to bite me. Ideally visiting both of our lower league affiliated clubs just before the season kicks off will give us a nice boost to morale.